Covid-19 and its associated lockdowns brought the global economy to its knees in what the International Air Travel Association called the worst year ever in terms of slow down for the aviation industry. One of the leading world carriers Emirates Airlines was not spared declaring a mid year loss of $3.8 billion for the 2020/2021 financial year. Prosper magazine’s Samuel Ssettumba interviewed Emirates Airline’s Vice President for Africa Badr Abbas in Dubai on how the Covid-19 pandemic is reshaping the global airline industry.
How did the Covid-19 induced crisis affect you operationally?
The Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on people, companies and countries was overwhelming and the toll it has taken especially on the aviation industry has been particularly heavy. Many countries were on partial or total lock down and aviation travel was significantly reduced or at a total standstill. Any efforts towards recovery were hampered by governmental travel restrictions which was a challenge for us.
We were also directed by the UAE General Aviation Authority to suspend our operations on March 25th 2020 for about eight weeks. During this time, we took swift actions and looked at cargo demand and other pockets of opportunity.
We also did some cost cutting through rigid financial discipline and this reduced the impact on our revenue. Also our resilience during this head wind was due to our successful business model and many years of investment in technology, infrastructure and skills. This helped us have greater efficiency especially digital acceleration. We are now deploying our resources wherever we see opportunities.
To help give more confidence to travelers, we introduced the flexible travel policy. They can extend their tickets or change their bookings for two years in addition to the multi risk travel insurance. We are confident we shall emerge from the crisis better positioned to compete.
How do you ensure safety with its added…